The number of people with HIV continues to rise. Due to the lack of educational campaigns, particularly among young people, the fear of HIV is diminishing. Our client, the pharmaceutical company GSK, aimed to create a campaign targeting homosexuals, bisexuals, and women in committed relationships, and secondarily, the general population, including teenagers. The campaign's goal was to raise awareness of the dangers of HIV, promote prevention methods, and encourage more people to get tested.
One of the main campaign messages emphasized that even faithful women in committed relationships are not immune to the threat of HIV, as they may have bisexual partners who have been unfaithful with bisexual or homosexual men. Statistics show that more than 70% of registered HIV cases involve bisexual and homosexual men. To support this message, we conducted a public opinion survey, revealing that four out of ten Czech men engage in infidelity, but only one out of ten of those individuals get tested for sexually transmitted diseases. Additionally,our survey uncovered that 120,000 men would be unfaithful to their partners with other men, putting them at the highest-risk group.
The press conference, during which we presented the survey results, became an immediate media sensation. The event was broadcast live on ČT24 and attended by representatives from 20 media outlets, including those with extensive coverage such as iDNES.cz, Novinky.cz, ČT, TV Barrandov, Český rozhlas, Impuls, and Frekvence 1, as well as ČTK. In addition to the press conference, we issued press releases focusing on various aspects of the topic.
Another pivotal aspect of the project was a visual campaign displayed on public transportation vehicles in Prague, Brno, Ostrava, Plzeň, and Karlovy Vary. The campaign featured visual warnings about the risk of HIV in relationships where men are unfaithful to their partners with other men.
The campaign achieved remarkable success, resulting in 200 media outputs with an AVE (Advertising Value Equivalent) of over CZK 10 million and reaching an audience of 50 million. We received coverage on programs such as "Události" on ČT1, "Devadesátka" on ČT24, and radio stations Impuls and Frekvence 1, as well as on the iDNES.cz and Novinky.cz platforms. The visual campaign appeared on over 500 public transportation vehicles across the Czech Republic. Moreover, the project secured first place in the Pharmacy and Health Care Sector category at the 2016 Czech PR Awards. However, the most important outcome was the 20% increase in the number of people getting tested, leading to the detection of a record number of HIV cases.